An optical object sensing device for a motor vehicle, having an emitter unit for emitting an emission light beam and having a receiver unit for receiving a reception light beam, and having an electronic evaluation device for detecting an object external to the vehicle in a vicinity of the motor vehicle as a function of the reception light beam. The emitter unit includes an emitter for generating the emission light beam, a controllable micromirror by which the emission light beam can be panned at least in a first panning direction, and an emission lens arranged behind the micromirror in the emission beam path, where at least along the first panning direction, the emission lens is configured as a concave-convex lens with a concavely curved surface, which faces towards the micromirror, and with a convexly curved surface.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An optical object sensing device for a motor vehicle, comprising: an emitter unit for emitting an emission light beam; a receiver unit for receiving a reception light beam; an electronic evaluation device for detecting an object external to the vehicle in a vicinity of the motor vehicle as a function of the reception light beam, the emitter unit comprising an emitter for generating the emission light beam, a controllable micromirror by means of which the emission light beam can be panned at least in a first panning direction, and an emission lens arranged behind the micromirror in the emission beam path, wherein at least along the first panning direction, the emission lens is configured as a concave-convex lens with a concavely curved surface, which faces towards the micromirror, and with a convexly curved surface.
2. The object sensing device according to claim 1 , wherein at least along the first panning direction, a radius of curvature of the concavely curved surface is less than a radius of curvature of the convexly curved surface of the emission lens.
3. The object sensing device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing angle of the emitter unit in the first panning direction lies in a value range of from 160° to 180°.
4. The object sensing device according to claim 1 , wherein the first panning direction is a horizontal direction.
5. The object sensing device according to claim 1 , wherein the micromirror is additionally arranged so that it can be panned in a second panning direction extending perpendicularly to the first panning direction, so that the emission light beam can also be panned in the second panning direction.
6. The object sensing device according to claim 5 , wherein a sensing angle of the emitter unit in the second panning direction is less than a sensing angle of the emitter unit in the first panning direction.
7. The object sensing device according to claim 5 , wherein a sensing angle of the emitter unit in the second panning direction lies in a value range of from 5° to 30°.
8. The object sensing device according to claim 1 , wherein the emission lens forms a part of a housing of the emitter unit.
9. The object sensing device according to claim 1 , wherein in that the receiver unit comprises a multiplicity of reception elements, photodiodes, and a common reception lens for the multiplicity of reception elements, which is arranged before the reception elements in the reception beam path, the reception lens being configured as a convex-concave lens with a convexly curved surface and with a concavely curved surface, which faces towards the reception elements.
10. The object sensing device according to claim 9 , characterized in that the reception lens and the emission lens are the same lenses.
11. The object sensing device according to claim 9 , wherein the reception elements are arranged distributed along an imaginary line of curvature extending in the first panning direction.
12. A motor vehicle having an object sensing device according to claim 1 .
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
September 19, 2013
April 11, 2017
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